Pope at Audience: We can acquire virtue through God's grace

Several youngsters enjoyed the ride with the Holy Father in his popemobile - screenshot

Source: Vatican News

During his General Audience today, Pope Francis continued his catecheses on virtues and vices, this week reflecting on virtue in general and encouraging usl to acquire it through the Lord's grace.

Father Pierluigi Giroli from the Vatican Secretariat of State, read the Pope's address to pilgrims gathered in St Peter's Square - the second audience outdoors this year - as he still has "a bit of a cold."

He read that the human heart, "can indulge evil passions" and "pay heed to harmful temptations disguised in persuasive garb," but, he reminded the faithful, we can also oppose all of this, because the human being, is made for goodness, and this is what "truly fulfils" us.

Being aware of our innate inclination for what is good, he suggested, enables us to possess certain permanent dispositions.

"In these dramatic times of ours in which we often have to come to terms with the worst of humanity," Pope Francis said, virtue "should be rediscovered and practised by all... In a distorted world, we must remember the form in which we were shaped," the Pope said, namely in "the image of God, that is forever imprinted upon us."

"But how can we define the concept of virtue?" The Pope recalled that the Catechism of the Catholic Church offers us a precise and concise definition of virtue as a "habitual and firm disposition to do the good" (no. 1803). Therefore, virtue is not some "improvised" or "somewhat random good that falls from heaven sporadically."

While acknowledging that even criminals have performed good deeds, which "are inscribed in the "book of God," the Holy Father said, "virtue is something else." "It is a goodness that stems from a slow maturation of the person, to the point of becoming an inner characteristic."

Calling virtue "a habitus of freedom," the Pope said: "if we are free in every act," and we have the tendency to choose the good, this is virtue.

The Pope recognized that understanding how to acquire virtue is "not simple," but complex. "For the Christian, the first aid is God's grace." Indeed, he stressed, the Holy Spirit acts in we who have been baptized, working in our soul to lead it to a virtuous life.

"How many Christians have reached holiness through tears, finding they could not overcome some of their weaknesses! But they experienced that God completed that work of good that, for them, was only a sketch."

Grace, he said, always precedes our moral commitment. "Moreover, we must never forget the very rich lesson from the wisdom of the ancients, which tells us that virtue grows and can be cultivated. And for this to happen, the first gift to ask of the Spirit is precisely wisdom."

The human being, the Pope noted, is not "a free territory for the conquest of pleasures, emotions, instincts, passions," that does not have the ability "to do anything against these forces, at times chaotic, that dwell within."

Rather, he stressed, we can exercise open-mindedness, a type of wisdom that enables us to "learn from mistakes in order to direct life well," as well as use our good will, "which enables one to choose the good."

Pope Francis concluded by encouraging faithful to embrace our journey through the virtues, in a "serene universe that is challenging," but "decisive for our happiness."

This day was the eleventh anniversary of his election as Pope.

During his greetings to Italian-speaking pilgrims, the Pope once again concluded by inviting everyone to pray for populations wounded by conflicts.

"Let us persevere in fervent prayer for those who suffer the terrible consequences of war," he urged.

In the past twelve months, from March 13, 2023, through to today, the Holy Father has made more than 150 appeals for "martyred" Ukraine and more than 60 others for a ceasefire in the Middle East.

In his address the Pope revealed that earlier in the day he had received "a Rosary and a Gospel from a young soldier who died on the front line." Recalling how this late soldier had "prayed with this," the Pope lamented how "so many young people, so many young people, go to die!"

"Let us pray to the Lord that He may grant us the grace to overcome this madness of war, which is always a defeat."

LINKS

Watch today's Audience on the Vatican Youtube channel: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9GsFkGy06s

Read the official text of the Pope's address: https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2024/03/13/240313a.html